Truckstop

Cheers! Everyone's so f***ing helpful on BC. Like, really awesome! I honestly can't think of another resource I'd ever use. Even if I wanted to know where to buy a van, or if I wanted discount codes for something or even where's nice to visit in Bath (Pratt's Hotel restaurant someone said; I've been back 4 times). Alex

I agree. The main issue being that I was the only person for over two weeks who was thinking about this gig. I wasnt contacted by a single band member for two weeks and when I spoke to the guitarist he clearly hadnt given the situation a second thought. That's what annoyed me. The fact that it meant nothing to anyone else even after they promised me that they'd kick it up a notch. Don't forget also that the guitarist told me that he would come up with some songs for us to do; he didn't so I decided to try to get the ball rolling. I was simply trying to take control of the situation to avoid being embarrassed. The venue wanted us to play for an extra hour and were paying us to do so! If we'd started packing up an hour before we were supposed to even finish, then I doubt we'd have beenpaid and we certainly wouldn't have been asked back. Anyway, c'est la vie! Onwards and upwards, just looking for a guitarist to complete my new project! Alex

Are you being serious?! You're going to stop using their awesome strings because they've made a bad decision?! Isn't that cutting off the nose to spite the face a little? I think Ibanez make terrible effects. Doesn't stop me buying their instruments. Truckstop

Theres loads of awesome guitarists appearing on this thread, I hope you all realise how lucky you are! Listened and watched all, have to say Liam Podmore's gotta be my favourite at the moment! Truckstop

Yay, another multiplexer user!! I much prefer them over other popular octavers. Lovely synthy tone and I find it tracks much better than, say, an OC-2 for example. Having said that though, I've never used another EHX pedal that I've liked!! Lovely board!

Nope, low face. Truckstop

Oh god I've just realised that my old band, Pure Negative, are also playing! They're wick and most of the songs will have been part written by me! Truckstop

I use my nose and chin. Truckstop

Awesome! Thank you, that's some great advice! Alex

Yeah I would have too a year ago. But the thing is is that they all said they'd start wearing uniform (wouldn't call it a uniform, more a dress code) and they didnt. That's what's annoying! But anyway, onwards and upwards. I've got a few people interested, hopefully be up and running soon! Alex

I think a lot of people erroneously believe that the 10's provide sparkle and the 15 provides thump. Plus it looks cool. Truckstop

Ooh, saw these guys a long time ago and found them very interesting indeed! Sadly can't make it, but would encourage people to go and see! Truckstop

Well luckily I have a full time job too (and it's ultra flexible to boot) so I don't really need to worry about making a massive amount of money out of it. I'm happy if I take home £150+ from a gig! I just need an extra income source these days. My wage from work is good, but I have a wedding coming up and I need to start thinking about putting money away for the future (house deposit, saving for kids, cars etc); something I can't do on my current wage. I'm confident that as long as I have the right people in my band, I can build up a decent size business. Don't forget also, that I live in St. Albans. Pub bands around here get £350+ a night! Good ones get even more. I also have a free rehearsal space so no costs there and already have a good PA and lighting rig so no start up costs apart from sortin out a few photo shoots and making some flyers and posters. I reckon it can be done and I reckon I can turn it into a nice little earner. But I can only do it with the right people behind me! Alex

I spoke to the MD this morning actually and although he's found someone for the job, he's given me the numbers of a few guys that may be interested in starting a new project. I'm fully aware that breaking into the function/wedding market's tough, but I'm willing to have a crack at it and I'm also prepared to play the pubs in the meantime to keep things ticking over. Should add that I'm after a vocalist and a guitarist. If anyone sees this and they're interested, chuck us a PM and we'll see what happens! Alex

Hello all! Looking for a guitarist and a vocalist for a functions/wedding band based in St. Albans, Herts. We'll be playing pretty safe material. Think Katy Perry followed by Ben E King followed by Bruno Mars. So mainly pop/soul/motowny kind of stuff. I want to avoid rock and disco as much as possible! You need to have reliable gear, good sense of presentation and a touch of showmanship about you! Anyway, if it sounds like something you'd be interested in, please PM me and I'll provide you with some more details. Cheers Alex

Thank you all for your lovely words! I'm thinking I might start a blog or something detailing my hunt for new band members and getting it all off the ground. Might be interesting? Alex

Unfortunately that's only the cab! Personally I reckon you'd get more options if you were to look at getting a head cab. For example, you could pick up that Trace cab for £170 (without haggling) and I'm pretty sure theres a flightcased Hartke LH350 for sale on here somewhere too for like £120 or so. That is a killer rig right there. Might be a little heavy, but it'll sound awesome and if you want to you can swap out the head or the cab in the future. Hartke cabs are pretty good value for money too, especially the VX range. Big and heavy, but bags of punch. Truckstop

[quote name='Mudpup' timestamp='1351980629' post='1857617'] Hey Alex... Ps Still got the Ashdown speaker? Good luck Jon [/quote] Yes! It works perfectly in my Ampeg cab. Sounds great, but without the shame of looking like I actually own Ashdown gear [\troll] Thanks for the kind words everyone! You may notice in my 'How to do a live mix?' thread that the band also suffered from a constant volume war between the guitarist and keyboardist. I'm well aware the function/wedding market's certainly got a lot of competition. I'm confident that with a few firm rules in place I can carve out my slice of the pie...and eat it? I guess? Is that how the metaphor goes? Alex

Just need to vent a little: So basically, a while ago a started a thread a while ago asking BCers some advice. I wanted to know whether to leave my band and join a professional function band (like, proper professional enough to make a living off!) or stay with my current band and try to make it myself. So after much soul searching, I decided to stick it out with my current band. I had a chat with them and told them my predicament and they all agreed that if I were to stay with them, they'd all kick it up a notch and start gearing towards getting into the functions and wedding market. I said that we'd need to make many changes: we'd need to invest in a good PA and backline, we'd need to start wearing uniform and we'd need to make our setlist more friendly. We all agreed and then the next mornin I rang the MD of the pro band and said thanks but no thanks. So fast foward a few weeks and no-one else in the band has practised any of the songs I wanted us to do, no-ones adhered to our dresscode (White shirt, black tie) and essentially there's been no improvement at all. Very disappointed. Anyway, I was prepared to keep gigging with them because we've got some good paying gigs coming up over Xmas and I can stick around until I find another project to get involved in. So, come around tonight: Basically, we've known for 3 weeks that we needed to come up with another set for this show because they close a lot later than usual pubs. I sent an email around saying "right, heres a list of 12 well easy songs we can all practice at home for this gig. They're so easy and well known we won't even need to rehearse them". I hear nothing back and for an experiment I decide to not follow up that email with another one. I call the guitarist today and say "what's going on, how are we going to conjure up another set of music?". Turns out that no-one has bothered to rehearse any of the songs over the last two weeks thinking that we could just extend some solo sections and have a "bit of a jam". Needless to say I was furious at their unprofessionalism and just said that I'd had enough. I said I didn't want to play this evening because it'd be embarrassing packing up an hour before we're supposed to finish and it would have been embarrassing trying to stretch out all of our songs for another couple of minutes. I then said that i wanted to leave the band permanently because I didn't think they would ever change enough to challenge the wedding and functions market! Feel a bit sad, but at the same time I feel like a massive weight has been lifted off my shoulders! Tomorrow I'm gonna put some ads out and put together a new band that I'll manage myself! All I want is a bunch of people that'll wear the right clothes, learn the right songs and have decent gear. Bah Truckstop

If you were in a position to help that guy, what would you advise him to do? Any particular frequencies you'd kill, or would you change the mic placements or anything like that? Would be well useful for you to give advice on how NOT to to sound terrible! Cheers! Alex

I love La Bella strings! I use stainless steels on the 5er and flats on the Blazer. Don't know why I've gravitated towards LaBella; I just click with them. They feel and sound the way I want them to. When I first tried them, I realised that I was putting up with things I didn't like with other brands like d'addario, Ernie Ball, Rotos and Status. Things like texture and not quite getting the tone I wanted from them. Excellent price point also! Truckstop

I stop playing and signal to the bar staff to deal with it. I always make it perfectly clear to the client that we dont tolerate any sort of abuse from punters and we'll pull the plug if there's any risk to ourselves or our gear. You're not getting paid to deal with pissed up punters! Truckstop

Well I certainly wouldn't leave any of my bank details with them! I'd be worried that they'd get into the wrong hands. At least with a cheque it's for a set amount of money! Dont any of your parents have a chequebook? Come to think of it, why do they need a deposit off you? Arent they insured? Truckstop